In certain critical applications, components must be manufactured from large diameter metal or metal alloy preforms exhibiting minimal segregation and which are substantially free of melt-related defects such as white spots and freckles. (For ease of reference, the term “metallic material” is used herein to refer collectively to unalloyed metals and to metal alloys.) These critical applications include use of metal components as rotating components in aeronautical or land-based turbines and in other applications in which metallurgical defects may result in catastrophic failure of the component. So that preforms from which these components are produced are free of deleterious non-metallic inclusions, the molten metallic material must be appropriately cleaned or refined before being cast into a preform. If the metallic materials used in such applications are prone to segregation when cast, they are typically refined by a “triple melt” technique which combines, sequentially, vacuum induction melting (VIM), electroslag remelting (ESR), and vacuum arc remelting (VAR). Metallic materials prone to segregation, however, are difficult to produce in large diameters by VAR melting, the last step in the triple melt sequence, because it is difficult to achieve a cooling rate that is sufficient to minimize segregation. Although solidification microsegregation can be minimized by subjecting cast ingots to lengthy homogenization treatments, such treatments are not totally effective and may be costly. In addition, VAR often will introduce macro-scale defects, such as white spots, freckles, center segregation, etc., into the ingots. In some cases, large diameter ingots are fabricated into single components, so VAR-introduced defects cannot be selectively removed prior to component fabrication. Consequently, the entire ingot or a portion of the ingot may need to be scrapped. Thus, disadvantages of the triple melt technique may include large yield losses, lengthy cycle times, high materials processing costs, and the inability to produce large-sized ingots of segregation-prone metallic materials of acceptable metallurgical quality.
One known method for producing high quality preforms from melts of segregation prone metallic materials is spray forming, which is generally described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,906 and 5,348,566. Spray forming is essentially a “moldless” process using gas atomization to create a spray of droplets of liquid metal from a stream of molten metal. The process parameters of the spray forming technique are adjusted such that the average fraction of solid within the atomized droplets at the instant of impact with a collector surface is sufficiently high to yield a high viscosity deposit capable of assuming and maintaining a desired geometry. High gas-to-metal mass ratios (one or greater) are required to maintain the heat balance critical to proper solidification of the preform.
Spray forming suffers from a number of disadvantages that make its application to the formation of large diameter preforms problematic. An unavoidable byproduct of spray forming is overspray, wherein the metal misses the developing preform altogether or solidifies in flight without attaching to the preform. Average yield losses due to overspray in spray forming can be 20–30%. Also, because relatively high gas-to-metal ratios are required to maintain the critical heat balance necessary to produce the appropriate solids fraction within the droplets on impact with the collector or developing preform, the rapid solidification of the material following impact tends to entrap the atomizing gas, resulting in the formation of gas pores within the preform.
A significant limitation of spray forming preforms from segregation prone metallic materials is that preforms of only limited maximum diameter can be formed without adversely affecting microstructure and macrostructure. Producing larger spray formed preforms of acceptable quality requires increasingly greater control of the local temperature of the spray to ensure that a semi-liquid spray surface layer is maintained at all times. For example, a relatively cooler spray may be desirable near the center of the preform, while a progressively warmer spray is desired as the spray approaches the outer, quicker cooling areas of the preform. The effective maximum diameter of the preform is also limited by the physics of the spray forming process. With a single nozzle, the largest preforms possible have a maximum diameter of approximately 12–14 inches. This size limitation has been established empirically due to the fact that as the diameter of the preform increases, the rotational speed of the surface of the preform increases, increasing the centrifugal force experienced at the semi-liquid layer. As the diameter of the preform approaches the 12 inch range, the increased centrifugal force exerted on the semi-liquid layer tends to cause the layer to be thrown from the preform face.
Accordingly, there are significant drawbacks associated with certain known techniques applied in the refining and casting of preforms, particularly large diameter preforms, from segregation prone metallic materials. Thus, a need exists for an improved apparatus and method for refining and casting segregation prone metals and metal alloys.